This Is Us' Chrissy Metz on Kate's Heartbreaking Yet All Too Relatable Struggle and What's Next

Exclusive: Chrissy Metz sounds off on This Is Us' emotional Kate-centric episode, what's next for Kate and Toby and more

"It's Kate's story, but it's also one out of five women's story."

 

How are we doing, This Is Us fans? After learning at the end of last week's episode that Kate (Chrissy Metz) lost her baby, fans were preparing themselves emotionally for tonight's Kate-centric outing, the second of the NBC hit's Big Three trilogy. 

 

Though Kate and Toby (Chris Sullivan) were struggling to handle their miscarriage in the episode, it ultimately ended on a hopeful note, proving even a shower rod can make us cry. Star Chrissy Metz was happy to learn that would happen after hearing about the storyline over the summer. 

"There was so much happening that it was really wonderful to see that the story was written that they were weren't going to let this really, really hard, difficult hurdle break them and that they have conceived before so there's hope they could conceive again if and when they're ready," Metz told E! News. "Just like life, we don't know what it's going to hand us, but it's not what happens to us but how you react to it. That's the real beauty of Kate and Toby's relationship."

Yes, Metz is hoping Kate and Toby do eventually decide to try again.

 

"I do think that once they get the bearings about them they will try again and there's a lot of hope," she said. "I think they will be amazing parents and I'm excited! Like, who are they going to cast as the kids?! But anyway, that's just me! But there's a lot that they're still sorting out as a couple and as individuals and that's what we constantly do."

Filming Toby and Kate's big confrontation, with Toby telling Kate that the miscarriage happened to him too, was "not easy" for Metz because she loves Chris Sullivan "desperately," but she said it was one of the most important scenes of the episode. 

 

"It's such a great part of the story because so many men generally don't speak about their feelings or are told not to…but their feelings are valid and very important to convey," she explained. "It was a loaded scene, but so important because so much of Kate is the anger and resentment, whether for herself, or the guilt around her father's passing or never feeling like she's going to measure up to even Kevin, she's always in the shadows. So there's all of that disappointment and guilt surrounding, like, she couldn't even have a baby, she couldn't even actually do that right. It's so much a projection of how she feels about herself too."

Aside from her relationship with Toby, Kate's strained relationship with her mom Rebecca (Mandy Moore) also took a major turn, with Kate finally leaning on her mother after always keeping her at arm's distance. (The backstory also provided a lot of insight into their relationship and Kate's insecurities about never measuring up to her mother.)

"It's like, wow, for the first time she's being vulnerable in a way we've never seen Kate as a woman in front of anybody, much less her mom. I think so much was said and forgiven and moving forward, realizing that as an adult, it's different understanding your parent as a kid and then as an adult you're like, oh, they're just trying to figure this out too. They're just human, they just happen to be older and we call then mom and dad."

She continued, "It's such a beautiful unveiling of that real unconditional love that family has for each other. It was really great, it's always great to work with Mandy. I just have so much respect for her, so I definitely look up to her. Of course not as a motherly figure, but it was wonderful to shoot, just to have that exposed."

Given all the emotional scenes in the episode, Metz said it was one of the most difficult episodes she's had to shoot so far on This Is Us. 

"It was challenging because you don't get to just take one take and then you're done. You sit in that space all day or all week. I think we worked 12 days out of 15 days or something, and at the end of the day, I don't want to talk to anybody!" she said. "I just want to cry a little bit more, take a shower and go to bed...I don't want to say there's responsibility, but I wanted to do it justice. I want it to be authentic and you gotta live that in some capacity to do so."

As for what's ahead in the final installment of the trilogy, centering on Randall (Sterling K. Brown), Metz said prepare to see a lot of exploration of the various family dynamics within the Pearsons. 

"There's what's going on with Kevin and how does that affect Kate and their relationship and the family as a whole because now we're starting to see a pattern," Metz said. "Kate has an addiction to food. Now Kevin is filling a void with pills…and Jack was an alcoholic. What does this mean for the family and how does Randall internalize that? There's a lot of discovery about the family dynamics coming up which is going to be really amazing."

This Is Us airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

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